Michael Lippin, a Washington-based reporter for Voice of America, is perhaps the hardest working person in our RIAS group. He reported on the environmental conference and other EU issues for VOA’s international audience, in contrast to most of the others in the group who didn’t have an assignment from their home news organizations. It was different in 2001 when a lot of the people in my group were filing broadcast reports. That’s a sad commentary on the fact that US news organizations don’t do enough these days to keep Americans informed about global developments and why programs like RIAS are so badly needed. Michael photographed and interviewed Erik Betterman, the head of Deutsche Welle and a member of the RIAS board. I also had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Betterman, who has spent some time in the US and understands American media very well. He was kind enough to introduce me to the representatives of the Deutsche Welle Akademie, which conducts highly respected media training programs all over the world. I’ve benefitted from the resources on their website in the past and it was great to connect with the people behind the effort. I would welcome any opportunity to collaborate with DW Akademie in the future.